“Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph.”
Haile Selassie

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

More Attorney Free Speech Outrage: Florida Supreme Court Suspends Attorney for Two Years for Criticizing Another Attorney

According to the court, Norkin accused a judge of being at the “beck
and call” of his client's opponent in a civil case, yelled in court, and
“incessantly” disparaged and humiliated opposing counsel in the
litigation.

The opposing counsel, Gary Brooks, was 71 years old at the time and
was suffering from Parkinson’s disease and kidney cancer. He was a
Harvard law grad with a “lengthy and unblemished career,” the court
said. Brooks died last year.

Norkin was accused of acting improperly toward Brooks when he:

• Sent emails to Brooks that said Brooks was lying and disingenuous,
his motions were “laughable and scurrilous,” and he will come to regret
his “incompetent, unethical and improper litigation practices.” Other
emails threatened to seek sanctions against Brooks and advised him to
notify his malpractice insurance carrier.

• Approached Brooks in the courthouse hallway and said he had
confirmed in conversations with other lawyers that Brooks was
“underhanded and a scumbag.” Other lawyers were within earshot at the
time.

The court concluded its opinion with this advice for Florida lawyers:
“Competent, zealous representation is required when working on a case
for a client. There are proper types of behavior and methods to utilize
when aggressively representing a client. Screaming at judges and
opposing counsel, and personally attacking opposing counsel by
disparaging him and attempting to humiliate him, are not among the types
of acceptable conduct but are entirely unacceptable. One can be
professional and aggressive without being obnoxious. Attorneys should
focus on the substance of their cases, treating judges and opposing
counsel with civility, rather than trying to prevail by being insolent
toward judges and purposefully offensive toward opposing counsel. ...

“Norkin has conducted himself in a manner that is the antithesis of what
this court expects from attorneys. By his unprofessional behavior, he
has denigrated lawyers in the eyes of the public.”

The Florida State Supreme Court thinks Norkin needs a lesson on civility. Perhaps. But clearly the Florida State Supreme Court though needs a lesson on the First Amendment. The sanction for the email is particularly egregious in that it lacks any publication whatsoever so it is not even arguable libelous.

There is a case out of Tennessee in which an attorney, Caldwell Hancock, is accused of violating Rule 8.2 for criticizing a judge in an email he had written to the judge and no one else. The case was over and Hancock was unhappy with some of the public comments the judge that he felt were inaccurate and unfair. I am going to try to get more information on that case and report about.

I have recently reviewed the history behind the 1798 Alien and Sedition Acts which sought to squelch public criticism of Congress and the President. Both those Acts and Rule 8.2 were aimed at limiting criticism of
public officials to truthful criticism, with truth being an affirmative
defense that has to be proved at trial. It is astonishing that the exact same argument the Federalists used for the Alien and Sedition Acts - the need to protecting the integrity of the legislative and executive branches from unfair and inaccurate criticism - is what is used by state disciplinary bodies in using Rule 8.2 to punish attorneys for criticism of judges. Norkin's case merely extends that concept to officers of the court, i.e. attorneys.

Although I understand Mr. Ogden's tendency to believe that there is a grain of truth in the Fla. S.Ct.s Decision, that I acted unprofessionally or without civility to some degree, this is simply not true. I was faced with an untenable situation against truly evil opponents bent on my client's destruction.

The Court granted my summary judgment motion dismissing the sham lawsuit that eventually destroyed my client's life. I also won summary judgment on an abuse of process counterclaim, something maybe unheard of in all of litigation history. I got that summary judgment because the lawyer who complained about me filed a fraudulent lawsuit and lied to the judge for 18 months, asserting his allegations of grand theft by my client had merit when it was plain and obvious they had none.

Telling the truth that your opponent is being dishonest and malicious in private emails is not uncivil. Instead, it is an effort to get a bad actor to accept what he is doing is wrong in an effort to extricate one's client from utter destruction.

I won the case, but delays by Brooks, allowed by the court, and refusals by anyone to get financial relief for my client, destroyed his company, drove it into bankruptcy, and into liquidation.

How can a few accurate accusations be unethical much less warrant a two year suspension?

Any product can not be loosed included in the condition, it should be extremely gucci replica, and also applicator usually is secured by using a alloy wedding band. The requirement for transparency corresponds to any aqueous. It all ought to be straightforward. Ordinarily home furniture within the parfum varieties with light that will shadowy blue. Quite often any designs happen to be produced through the help of greenish, pinkish, or simply blue designs, however , beautiful “chemical” colors appearance mistrust - for those who be conscious of the parfum for famed types, however , a good glowing purple or simply replica chanel – it is actually pretend. Regretably, in the present day you can receive a decent forgery, if you already happen to be choosing it all from a superior retail outlet is not really yet still a guarantee for a authenticity. For no reason get hold of perfume at a path promote, food stores, or simply minor retail outlets for gucci replica together with products, together with concentrate on the worth, whenever it all appearance overly “attractive - in all likelihood you can expect to get hold of forgery. The very first perfume ordinarily has got long-lasting odour dependant upon the model together with amount for savoury louis vuitton replica. Have you learnt that which is any prada replica somewhere between the”parfum”, any “eau de parfum” and also ”eau de toilette”? For a start any perfume is certainly higher end.

About Me

I have been an attorney since the Fall of 1987. I have worked in every branch of government, including a stint as a Deputy Attorney General, a clerk for a judge on the Indiana Court of Appeals, and I have worked three sessions at the Indiana State Senate.
During my time as a lawyer, I have worked not only in various government positions, but also in private practice as a trial attorney handing an assortment of mostly civil cases.
I have also been politically active and run this blog in an effort to add my voice to those calling for reform.